1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of exercise machines using resistance for exercising the upper torso and arm muscles for complete natural joint articulation of the shoulders, elbows and wrists. Particularly this invention relates to a bench assembly that may be angularly fixed such that the user is allowed to train the muscles of the arms and torso at different angles of isolation.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Convergent plane chest and shoulder exercise machines were introduced by Hammer Strength Corporation in the late 80""s and are covered by U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,050,873, 5,181,896, 5,135,456 and 5,044,631 issued to Jones. These machines operate with a pair of pivoting arm assemblies that rotate in convergent planes and take the user through an articulation that is more complete than conventional exercise machines. The primary drawback to the Hammer design is that these convergent plane style of machines are only beneficial to large users with long arm lengths. This is due to the fact that all users start at the same machine position regardless of body size.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,589 issued to Habing describes an upper body exercise machine with a machine-determined exercise motion path, which is also optimally suited for tall people, because the user is confined to start at a pre-determined position and the ending position is also determined by the user""s arm length. The machine has a pair of symmetrically articulated arm assemblies each being pivotally attached to the frame with a fourbar linkage. The handgrips of the Habing device are fixed and thereby do not allow the user complete and natural articulation at the wrist joint.
All of the machines of the prior art mentioned above are specifically designed for a particular angle of isolation, i.e. supine, incline or decline bench press movements. None of the prior art addresses the functional improvement of being able to do all three chest press movements on a single convergent exercise machine.
Adjustable incline and decline benches are not novel to the field of exercise equipment. The Paramount model PFW 6200 is an example of such a bench. Typically these benches are moved by the user into a squat rack or other similar apparatus to do incline, supine and decline chest press exercises with an olympic bar and free weights. Until the present invention it has not been possible to do all three chest press movements on one bench without having to physically move the bench and the lifting bar. Furthermore, the use of an adjustable bench with a squat rack or other apparatus only relates to traditional exercise movements and not the relatively new field of convergent exercise machines.
The preceding and other shortcomings of the prior art are addressed and overcome by various aspects of the present invention, which consists of an adjustable exercise bench that angles upwards or downwards to exercise and train the muscles of a upper torso and arms at varying angles of isolation.
The present invention comprises an adjustable exercise bench which is pivotally coupled to a support frame.
In the present invention is a method for varying the isolation in the muscles of the chest while providing complete, natural joint articulation of the shoulders, elbows and wrists by using a convergent pair of exercise machine arms. The muscle isolation is determined by the exercise bench angled relative to the machine pivot axle. The method includes defining the position of the bench pivot axle at a location in the plane positioned through the user""s shoulder joints and at a displacement from the user""s shoulder joints, and adjusting a seat position to accommodate the user into the aforementioned exercise positions. The seat or bench adjustments include angular and vertical adjustments to maintain the position of the user""s shoulder joints relative to the bench pivot.
The resistance system of the preferred embodiments of this invention are free weights or individual weight plates placed on each arm via a weight post positioned for this purpose. The embodiments of this invention are not limited, however, to free weights and are easily adapted to other resistance means such as stacked weights, pneumatics or electrical motors.
By using the techniques of the present invention, three standard exercise machines are combined into one compact efficient machine. This substantially reduces floor space required in fitness facilities or residential installations.